My brother and his wife have arrived, along with their three kids and all the madness that follows them. Right now my brother and nephew are practicing kung fu in the sun room while one of my nieces plays with one of her pixel chix.
[tags]neices, nephews, kung fu, pixel chix[/tags]
We’ve been back on the farm for a little over 24 hours now. Our trip yesterday was ridiculously easy: no problems at either airport, with the car rental, with the drive home…smoothest Christmas travel ever. Let’s hope all the problems at Heathrow get sorted and Tim’s travels are as smooth.
Today was a quick shopping trip to Moncton, including lunch at Montana’s. Seriously. I guess it’s only fitting that we’ve kick off the Farewell To Meat tour with a visit to a bad steakhouse. A few groceries on the way home and we arrived back at the farm. Not much of note since then; I fixed a few things on my parents’ computer as well as on their new 50″ plasma TV (!) and surround sound stereo while Nellie wrapped all the presents.
Tomorrow Andrew and his brood arrive. Tomorrow’s also the day that my father makes his delicious delicious ice cream and the peanut butter balls go up for grabs. Mmmmmmmmaaaarrggghfdiohognofsjjntr.
[tags]xmas travel, heathrow, moncton, montana’s, homemade ice cream[/tags]
Five days before Christmas…you’d expect hellish lines at the airport, right? Well, we arrived at the Westjet counter to find a line consisting of precisely zero people. None. Rien. We strolled on up, got the first agent, and zipped through security to our gate. Sweet!
The downside, of course, is that we now had an hour to kill before boarding. We just had a walk around the terminal, bought some trash magazines (Details for me, Cosmo for Nellie) and had a snack. Oh well; I’d rather sit and read for half an hour than risk getting caught in a line.
All in all the airport is remarkably quiet. Note to self: travel on Wednesday afternoons whenever possible.
[tags]pearson airport, westjet, lineups[/tags]
[tags]getting things done[/tags]
Here’s why I don’t like the NHL conference rankings system: right now Montreal has the second best record in the eastern conference, but they’re in 4th. Atlanta and New York are in 2nd and 3rd respectively because they lead their divisions, but they both have worse records than the Canadiens. So, if the playoffs were to be called today, Montreal would face 5th-place New Jersey instead of 7th-place Toronto. Guess which team I’d rather see Montreal play in the first round? I know anything can happen between now and April, and teams will move up and down the standings, but every year some team seems to be get screwed by this.
[tags]nhl, canadiens, eastern conference[/tags]
Torontoist, not content with examining neighbourhoods, has begun examining intersections. They kicked things off with my local, Yonge & Bloor. I think I’m going to like this series.
.:.
The Economist’s FreeExchange blog mentions an interesting idea: that the EU should impose tariffs on products imported from countries who don’t comply with Kyoto. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to fly, and it was probably political posturing by the French as much as anything else, but it’ll be interesting to see where that thread goes. We impose tariffs and trade embargoes for a lot of things; why not environmental recklessness?
.:.
Speaking of environmental recklessness, American schools will be given 50,000 free copies of An Inconvenient Truth. Fan-frigging-tastic idea. Students should watch the movie and then be given the assignment to prove (or disprove) one or more of the claims Al Gore makes in the documentary.
[tags]yonge, bloor, kyoto, tariffs, inconvenient truth[/tags]
Ze work, she is finished. Ze packing, she has just begun. Ze Frank: funny.
Technically I’m now on vacation, although the night before a trip isn’t exactly relaxing. I’ll feel like I’m on vacation once I place my arse in my airplane seat tomorrow afternoon and have no further responsibilities or time requirements for the next two weeks. At 3:00 tomorrow, god (and air traffic control) willing, I shall be in languor land.
“Languor is underrated. It is not possible to be immobile in modern urban society except by dint of constant effort. Holding on tightly to the riverbank and fighting the current is not languor. Nobody likes that. But bone-lazy idleness, hours and hours spent staring at the sky and remembering books and birthdays and great kisses: this is a pure pleasure that eludes the productive in all their confident superiority. Languor is sunny and hot. It is at home near the sea and is best appreciated in environments of beauty and limited promise. It contains within it the idea of boredom, but is also colored by idle fancy and the understanding that some things proceed best with limited attention. Fishing, for instance. If you’re always reeling in and checking your bait, you’ll only worsen your chances. Relax.” –Kevin Patterson, The Water In Between
That’s one of my favourite quotes, from one of my favourite books. And there’s really not much other way to describe the farm than languorous.
[tags]languor[/tags]
Watched two more movies: Elf (imdb | rotten tomatoes), which was reasonably funny for about an hour and then dove head first into a pool of schmaltz, and Bombay Calling (nfb) which was a realistic antidote to the Hollywood-ish romantic-comedy feel of Outsourced.
[tags]elf, outsourced[/tags]
Yesterday I finished my last stats assignment. That means I shouldn’t really have to do anything for the next five weeks, except for a quick review of the assignment and maybe compiling some notes before the week of the exam. I can now finish up some pre-xmas errands and prepare for our trip to NS…as of the moment I get on that plane, I shall be in full relaxation mode. Relax on the farm, have fun with my family, have a nice dinner in Halifax, catch up on movies back in Toronto, maybe do some shoppin’…yeah. Sweet.
One more day in the office and then it’s mine, all mine.
[tags]rancho relaxo[/tags]
No posts yesterday as my hosting provider seemed to be down for maintenance. You didn’t miss much, honestly. Just the countdown to relaxo-vision.
[tags]relaxo-vision[/tags]
